Dead
by Phenomenen
Summary: This is a short story about a girl who is dead in modern day England. When her past catches up with her, she struggles to cope with it, though.


Luke chucked another pen at my head.

I was sitting in Textiles, my best friend Mia (who thought I was as weird as everyone else did, only _she _accepts it), sitting next to me with her head down doing her work. I gritted my teeth and looked at the clock. Quarter to three. I glared at it, willing time to go faster. It was being annoyingly stubborn though, and wouldn't go any quicker... Which meant I'd have to keep my temper in check for another forty minutes. Great.

Another pen ricocheted off of my head.

If I told him to stop, I'd probably just get another faceful of pens, and so I'd insult him. Then he'd insult me back, I'd start screaming, get angry and then... I might do something to expose my secret. And that wouldn't be terribly clever, would it, Lyriel? Yeah, Lyriel. It was a weird name when _I_ was born, so it's an even weirder name now.

Yet another pen shot towards my head.

I inhaled sharply and clutched the edge of the table until my bones were close to sticking through my skin.

Three o'clock. Only twenty-five minutes...

In my opinion, Textiles was a waste of time. Who wants to spend all day sewing? Who wants to spend _any_ time sewing... I mean a sewing machine is just a machine, right? So, while we're at it, why not have television lessons? Mobile phone lessons? I remember when mobile phones were bricks, and even then we didn't need lessons on it. Or, why not mix Textiles in with the same lesson as DT?

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. Just another stupid human, being so completely immature and annoying...

My pale fingers drummed impatiently over the desk, picking out a path that I had played thousands of times before. In the right place, this would create beautiful music...

"Oi, Vampire!" Another boy sitting by Luke shouted over. This statement was meant for me- ironic, really, that they'd decided to call me vampire. They weren't far off the truth...

I sighed exasperatedly. Only 5 minutes left to endure... I propped my head up with my hand and breathed out deeply. I knew I shouldn't, but no one would notice... and they deserved it.

My soul floated gently out of my mouth, leaving me looking down at my body, limp and lifeless, but not so much that it would draw unwanted attention. It's quite peaceful being out of your body- for about five minutes, and then it gets terrifying. Uncomfortable. I was out of my body for so long once that I just snapped, like an elastic band, and I was flung back into my body... That was back then, when I was still trying...

Anyway, I floated over towards Luke's table. There were six boys there, all of them jeering as Luke took aim with yet another pen. The boy to the left of him shouted again. Tom, I think he was called. "Vampire! Look over here!"

Oh, I am.

Luke threw the pen. "OW!"

I smiled and floated back into my body. I allowed myself one glimpse of Luke as he looked astounded to his friends. "That pencil just flew back into my face!" he exclaimed.

"Sure, you dumb ass. You just threw it weird."

"Luke, I swear you're losing it."

Luke stared stupidly at the point in the air that his pencil had done a 180 degree turn. The point where my soul had been hovering thirty seconds ago.

I grinned and the bell rang. Finally.

Mia and I packed our stuff away in silence. It was probably best that I wasn't incredibly close friends with her- that would make everything complicated. We were just both outsiders- me, weird and different, her, shy and quiet.

As we walked towards the school reception, and our way out, a girl with long, perfectly straight blonde hair swaggered up to us, her friends giggling and sticking their hips towards any boys in sight. She was one of those girls.

She stood right in front of Mia, and said clearly, "Are you a boy or a girl?" she smiled sweetly, waiting for a reply. Mia looked up at her, her short brown bobbed hair quivering.

"A-a girl..." she whispered. That annoyed me. She **can **stand up for herself without losing her temper and ruining a century of carefulness. But, just to infuriate me, she doesn't.

The girl laughed. "Really? I'm sorry- I just couldn't tell!" Her friends laughed more.

I couldn't help it. "And you? Are you stupid or blind?" I asked politely.

Her glossed lips turned into a large O. Her friends stopped laughing in shock.

"Close your mouth, a fly will go in!" I smiled and pulled Mia out the way.

"Thank you..." she whispered.

I sighed. "It's fine." And I turned away to get onto my bus.

I climbed up the big steps and flashed my bus pass at the driver, and then shuffled down the aisle, to the middle- perfect. Not near the annoyingly loud Year Sevens at the front (ok, that's a little bit of a generalisation, but you know...) and not near the immature Year 11 bullies at the back.

I collapsed into the seat by the window and stared out of it wistfully. I sighed, and pulled my little red iPod Nano out of my inside blazer pocket. I put the headphones in my ears unlocked it, and pressed play. Paramore's Ignorance rang in my ears. I closed my eyes and rested my head against the head rest. The bus shuddered to life and began the fifteen minute drive to the village.

I hopped off the bus gracefully and began to walk briskly down the road. On my own. Mia lives in the city, where my school is, and I live on the outside of a village a few miles away. I have to live so far away really. It's just one of the many negative points of no one knowing my secret.

As I got to the far end of the street, I turned right. I looked over my shoulder. Shoot. Emily Riley was close behind. And I really wanted to get home quickly today... Damn it all. I cussed under my breath, and then sighed. I guess even if she hadn't been there, I wouldn't have teleported. Too many windows. Too many people watching. Why do humans have to be so... nosy?

I must stop thinking like this- I mean I was human too, once.

I started walking faster, my long, pitch black hair swinging over my shoulder. Left now, and there was the bridge! I turned slightly. Emily was gone. I ran up to the bridge, and swung my legs over the edge. I looked around quickly. No pedestrians, no cars... if someone looked through a window at me, then they'd just think I was lucky. Humans could make this jump at a push- oh. There I go again. Thinking like this is only going to make it harder to pretend I'm human. And that's hard enough as it is.

I looked at the small path below me. And the canal next to it. I pushed myself off the bridge.

And landed. Easily. It could've been a 2 million mile high cliff and I would have still landed easily. It would have just been a little uncomfortable.

You want to know why? Of course you do. You humans are so annoyingly curious. Ugh! I mentally kicked myself. There I go again...

I skipped up the narrow dirt path by the canal and watched the sparrows fly away from the bushes in shock and fear as I glide past them. I miss that more than anything. The animals used to love me- when I was human. Now they're frightened of me. I don't blame them... You'd think after 100 or so years I'd get over being dead, wouldn't you?

Yeah. You heard right. I'm dead.

I pushed my way through into a hedge, now empty of the life that had a second ago been everywhere. I made sure I was totally concealed and then blinked.

That was all it took. In a split second, I was home.

My house is huge. Huge... and empty. I live here alone. Who would I live with anyway? If I told a _human_ then they'd do one of two things. They'd run away screaming and never talk to me again. Or they'd run away to a scientist, and I'd end up in a zoo. Or something like that. If there's one thing I've learnt through my life then it's that humans can't be trusted. No matter how much you trust them. How much you thought they loved you...

Anyway. My house. All the walls and carpets are black. The wooden banister is made of ebony wood, and the pictures on the walls are framed by the same material. But the pictures themselves are bright, full of colour and shapes. The furniture is all multicoloured plastic- bright and shiny. It's a unique style- my style.

I run down the narrow hall and up the stairs. Into my favourite room- my music room. It is a huge space- filled with my instruments. A flute is lying on my big green desk, sheet music of my own compositions strewn messily across it. A violin is propped up against the leg of my red desk chair, and a saxophone case is on the floor by the window. But my destination for today was standing across the room from me, black and majestic.

I lifted the lid to reveal beautiful white and black keys and I curve my hand to fit my long fingers over the keys, my short, neat nails looking perfectly at home. Then the music filled the room, swinging and swaying gently as my fingers flew over the keys. I began to sing, loudly and clearly, and closed my eyes, letting the song fill my soul...

Music was all I had left now I was dead. I sighed wistfully as the song came to an end. The last note hung in the end and the silence devoured the atmosphere the song had created. It was tiring living alone. Alone, with no one to talk to- properly anyway. Like I could talk to Mia...

Mia's face filled my mind. Her brown hair framed her face in two pigtails and her mouth was stretched into a wide grin. She was plain, average, and didn't fit in. That was the only reason we were friends- we both don't fit in. We have none of the same tastes, same likes, complete opposites.

I buried my face in my hands and did what I did most evenings. Wonder what my existence was for. What was the point in being undead if all I did was wonder what was the point of being undead?

So there you have it. My life- well, except that I'm not living at all. So, my unlife. It's empty, full of nothingness. Completely pointless. Of course, it wasn't always like this. But that was another life. A REAL life. Where I was actually living.

And then I opened my eyes. And blinked. Because what I saw was impossible. Utterly, completely, logically impossible. What was going on?

HE was there. He was there. Him. He couldn't be there... it was completely impossible.

"Hi." He said, running his fingers through his blonde carefully styled hair, sweeping it out of his eyes- his big, blue sapphire eyes...

No. I wasn't going to fall for him again. Last time... ended badly. He was probably imaginary anyway. No, in fact, he HAD to be imaginary. Because he should be long dead by now. Long dead. And if he was a ghost, which I doubted, he would be preserved in the state he was in when he died. So he'd be old. But he wasn't- he was in the exact same state I'd last seen him in- the perfect, beautiful state...

I blinked in shock.

"Lyriel. I missed you." He smiled, and stepped towards me. His hand brushed up to my colourless cheek, and his other twisted into my hair. He leaned in and I closed my eyes...

"No." I reopened my eyes, and he was gone. Fabulous. Now I was losing my mind. Was it possible for someone who was undead to lose their mind? Evidently so.


End file.
